The Sundance Institute has announced an expansion of its theatre lab that will include two new East Coast developmental retreats that will take place in the spring of 2010.

The labs, which will be held in New York City and North Adams, MA, temporarily replace the annual July lab in Utah while the Sundance Resort undergoes upgrades. As with the annual Utah lab, the East Coast sessions will offer playwrights, directors, composers and librettists the opportunity to work with dramaturges and full casts on their works in progress. The first lab will be held at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MassMoCA) in North Adams March 28-April 11, 2010. The following New York-based lab will be held on Governors Island May 23-June 6, 2010.

"We are thrilled to expand the Sundance Institute Theatre Program to these unique environments," said Sundance producing artistic director Philip Himberg in a statement. "Sundance Institute labs provide a crucible for innovative developmental work. They are more than a place to 'rehearse'; they are environments that encourage and support risk-taking, experimentation, and rigorous re-writing and re-imagining. MassMoca and Governor’s Island both provide a connection with nature, which is integral to our view of nurturing the creative process, and both have been generous with their resources and rehearsal space – critical gifts during this economic climate. We are thrilled and grateful that these venues will allow us to continue our 33 years of supporting theatre artists while our home base in Sundance, Utah undergoes some vital renovations."